I have seen Venetian Millefiori beads that were in such horrible shape that I would have sworn they were something ancient had I been been able to see the core and recognize the murrine they used. I was searching the internet last night and did find a few Egyptian beads that were of a similar look and shape, but more info on their size and other detail needs to be found.

As you mentioned, things like the way the hole is shaped can be very helpful and diagnostic. The Egyptian beads I saw did Not show the bead hole, so I am now prowling the Corning Glass Museum Ancient Bead Collection.

Here is a link to what looked similar as far as Ancient Egypt and Ptolemaic (so far) and photo link. Jamey mentioned Ribbon Glass Construction and Egypt as a possible production source when he was commenting on another bead I was trying to ID, and if I'm not mistaken, said this bead looks like a "combed design" ribbon-type construction bead- assuming furnace mandrel wound.

Thanks your efforts are appreciated so much! Hopefully we can put our minds and the internet to good use and try to solve this to some extent, though it is always difficult, I realize, without the bead in hand.

Anne

https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/ancient-art-antiquities/twenty-mainly-egyptian-core-formed-and-ptolemaic-period-roman-5548688-details.aspx?pos=2&intObjectID=5548688&sid=&page=8&lid=1